DEAN KEATES admits Wrexham's win against Hartlepool was much needed and the Reds' boss hopes three points will give his players a boost in confidence.

Back in action at Park Victoria following a three-week break, Wrexham secured a hard-fought victory with Elliott Durrell scoring the only goal in the 54th minute with a stunning strike.

That ended a run of four games without a win, the Reds losing three successive matches before registering a goalless draw against Barnet in their last outing on October 27 before the enforced break.

But Keates isn't getting carried away and wants to build on the morale-boosting success by beating Aldershot at The Racecourse on Saturday.

"As I said to the players, we will take a lot of confidence from that," said Keates.

"We used the clean sheet against Barnet as a building block and we have gone and backed it up with three points at a difficult place to come.

"We needed it as a group and we needed it as a football club.

"It is going to be difficult at the weekend but we have to make sure we go out and get something to back up this win, and we are aiming for three points."

Prior to the goalless draw with Barnet, Wrexham conceded eight goals in defeats against Solihull and Wealdstone.

Keates is delighted to steady the ship by keeping two clean sheets as well as picking up four points from a possible six.

"Two clean sheets after conceding eight goals in the two games leading up to Barnet," said Keates.

"We got an edgy 0-0 against Barnet and we built on it away from home.

"If we had won 1-0 against Barnet and drew away it is not a bad four points so we will take that.

"The games come thick and fast so we will recover and get ready for a difficult game at the weekend against Aldershot.

"That's two games unbeaten and two clean sheets, we are at home and we want to add three points on the back end of this.

"Seven points out of nine is not a bad return."

Wrexham had two games postponed under Covid-19 protocols since facing Barnet and Keates felt it showed in the first half at Hartlepool.

But after re-grouping at the break, it was a much better second half performance and although the Reds had to soak up a lot of late pressure, Keates praised his players for digging deep.

"I just thought we looked rusty," said Keates.

"It has been a strange few weeks, one or two out there have unfortunately been gripped by this disease and they looked a little bit weary.

"At half-time we just said: 'go and play, have some confidence in yourself, grab the game by the scruff of the neck and dictate it for us', and I thought we did that.

"Last 25 minutes they got on top of us and one or two times we lacked a little bit of composure again

"But I can't fault the nitty-gritty side of the game that we showed."

Durrell scored his first goal since rejoining Wrexham in the summer after getting on the end of Kwame Thomas' knock-down.

Keates felt Thomas, who worked hard all evening, had a big impact.

"How we set-up, we looked at them and thought they are not the biggest at the back, and Kwame offers something a bit different," said Keates.

"First half, a couple of times we went a little bit too long, especially with the wind behind us; we should have mixed it up a bit.

"But second half it gives you a bit more of a chance with the wind against you.

"If Kwame doesn't win the first one, we are around on the second ball and we arrived on a lot of second balls second half."